Name: BIGGEST NAVAL BATTLE OF WWII (Part 1): The Battle of Leyte Gulf | Battle 360 | History
Uploaded: 2020-03-19T16:12:55.000Z
Duration: 6 min 2 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

have been slugging it out for three years.

And now, following the recent clash over the Philippine Sea

in which 400 planes were lost, the enemy's carrier force

They have vessels, but they don't have planes or pilots

NARRATOR: Just over 100 planes remain to distribute

Even so, the Japanese Navy has another skilled and menacing

is in its battleships and its heavy cruisers.

of heavy gun warships that they can bring to bear.

NARRATOR: Among the warships are Japan's two

super battleships, the monsters Musashi and Yamato.

863 feet long, 172 foot beam, weighing 72,000 tons.

The Yamato and the Musashi both had a main battery

They're extremely heavily armored, yet relatively fast.

And they're able to sustain a level of punishment

to stop the American advance through the Pacific.

They believe the best way to do it is to disrupt

that it's important to hit the American invasion forces.

So the point of attack for the Japanese battleships,

for the first time, is not their American opposite numbers,

but it's rather the beachhead itself, and the transports,

NARRATOR: On the opposite side of the equation,

the American carrier forces are holding their own--

They still have plenty of carriers and aircraft.

at this point in the war to finally target the Philippines.

Taking the Philippines will place US forces between Japan

But any attempt at landing in the Philippines

Japanese occupiers will defend this crucial ground

The American strategy for taking back the Philippines

calls first for the capture of the centrally

It's felt that Leyte needs to be captured so that we can

And then we'll extend our air umbrella over further portions

NARRATOR: Japan's battleships and cruisers will steam north

The warships will split into two groups, one

for sailing through the Sulu Sea and Surigao Strait,

and approaching Leyte Gulf from the south.

The other half sailing through the Sibuyan Sea

JONATHAN PARHALL: They have a southern and a northern pincer

composed of battleships and cruisers that will hopefully

NARRATOR: When Japanese and American forces collide,

the numbers of ships involved, and the hundreds of miles

separating major battle areas will distinguish the struggle

for Leyte Gulf as the largest naval battle

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BIGGEST NAVAL BATTLE OF WWII (Part 1): The Battle of Leyte Gulf | Battle 360 | History

crucial

eventually

struggle

approach